Suspected US airstrike kills 4 al-Qaida operatives in Yemen

SANAA, Yemen – Yemeni tribal and security officials say a suspected U.S. airstrike has killed four al-Qaida operatives in Yemen's east.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media, say the operatives killed in Marib on Sunday were driving a car when an unmanned aircraft targeted their vehicle. Two of the men killed were identified as belonging to one of the local tribes, the others remain unidentified.

The airstrike comes less than a day after a similar strike killed three al-Qaida members in the neighboring province of Shabwa.

Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, seen by Washington as among the most dangerous branches of the global terror network, has exploited the chaos of Yemen's civil war, seizing territory in the south and east.